Progressive Wednesday

“Talking With His Feet”

As a society we have learned of civil war and genocide that have ravaged such countries as Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and others.  We have been appalled.  We have demanded little from our government. We have asked even less of ourselves. But some among us have been “talking with their feet– .

According to the Buffalo News, in the early 1990's Kenneth Krieger, a school psychologist in Niagara Falls, New York, spent time helping refugees who were relocating to the Western New York area from such countries as Kosovo and the Sudan when he heard of young orphans who had escaped from war ravaged Sierra Leone, the poorest nation in the world. While in the country to pick up his second adopted daughter, Krieger was approached by a young lady asking for money to pay her school fees. Her family wasn't eating so that she could go to school. He gave her $60. It wasn't until later that he found out that she was sent to his house by a local prostitute as a favor to the girl. The experience launched him into further action.

“What did Krieger do?– you ask?

Through a charitable organization he helped form, EduNations, Krieger was able to raise the $24,000 it took to build a school to serve some 300 pupils in first through sixth grades. The school opened in September and serves six villages in the central part of the country.

The school also feeds the children and their families one hot meal a day so parent don't have to go hungry in order for their kids to get an education. The most important thing they learn? How to grow food.

So what's next for EduNations? They plan to build a secondary school to further the children's education. The cost is another $24,000. Here's where you come in. EduNations.org is still under construction so those who want to help should send their donations to:

EduNations Inc.
PO Box 119
Kenmore, NY 14217

We have asked EduNations to make it easier for you to donate and when that happens we'll bring it to you. So there it is. One man helping to educate six villages in the poorest country on earth. If that's not progress– ¦

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This is why there’s more than a little libertarian in us…

This is… uh, well, this article by Dong-Phuong Nguyen in the Tampa Bay Times makes us smack a hand to our foreheads over and over and over and….

The two-lane road meanders for about a mile through open land primed for development. In the distance, houses with fresh paint and new sod peek out from behind transplanted trees.

The road was built so residents in bustling New Tampa could get from Hillsborough to Pasco County without having to take traffic-clogged Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. But at the end of the road, named Kinnan Street, sit barricades and weeds. Sixty feet away, across the county line, is another road, which was supposed to connect and complete the path to Pasco.

But the two roads might never meet, leaving the street a worthless $2.2-million road to nowhere.

This, my friends, is one of the problems with solely relying on the government to solve problems: too many politicians are morons. Will the two sides finally come to logical terms and connect this sucker? It seems about as likely as Eric and I connecting the two roads:

“We cannot consider (joining the roads),” said Bipin Parikh, assistant Pasco County administrator. He said he needs to look out for the residents and streets of Meadow Pointe, to the north of the road with traffic problems of its own.

Oh, boy. And oh, girl, while we’re at it.

Granted, we’re not convinced that the privatization of road construction is the answer, or even an answer. But it’s times like these when letters to the editor seem essential, when we essentially owe it to ourselves to call our legislators to get their heads out of their each other’s posteriors. Why? Because they won’t do it on their own.

You’ve simple got to see this photo to believe it.

Map image courtesy of this guy.

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How to Browse Progressively

Problem:

How should we put this– ¦? How about an SAT-style analogy: Internet Explorer is to a monkey a screech monkey as all other web browsers are to humans. We still use IE on occasion, the same way when we go to zoos we look at the primates, caged and nearly useless.

So, we admit it: we're exaggerating a bit. And please know that we don't mean to offend the IE users out there in Internet land, though PC World did dub IE the 8th worst tech product of all time. But there are at least four better options out there, flying under the web radar. Since about 60% of folks still use IE, we've got a lot of minds to change, but change them we will.

Make Progress:

To put it directly: download and use Firefox. This here's a browser designed and maintained by the friendly-neighborhood folks over at Mozilla. Since making the switch from the vulnerable IE to Firefox, I've experienced far, far fewer problems with spyware and adware. I still run Spybot, Ad-Aware, and Venus Spy Trap frequently, but they find hardly any malicious cookies as compared to my days when I relied on Microsoft to do my browsing. Pop-up windows are also something of the past now that I'm a Firefox-er. Another perk of Firefox is that it's open source software, which means any individual can create extensions for the browser, enabling users to personalize their browsing experience. I use extensions to help me play music (FoxyTunes), know the weather (Forecastfox), and clip and save info I find while researching for Progressive Wednesday (Clipmarks). While this browser isn't perfect, it's the new age of browser, whereas IE always seems a step behind the times and slow to fix bugs and security flaws.

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Opera is another browser we find ourselves using from time to time (and those times are on the rise, baby). In fact, we're a bit torn between it and Firefox–it's like choosing between The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. Opera offers many features we dig on, such as: tabbed browsing; thumbnail previews of open tabs; the ability to save tabs for the next time you use Opera; a trash can that allows you to open accidentally closed tabs; voice operation for those with disabilities; zoom control on any page; enhanced security features; pop-up blocking; tools for using the web from your mobile phone; and widgets that you can use (and develop!) to personalize the sucker.

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If social networking is your cup of Internet tea, we'd suggest taking a gander at Flock. Much like Firefox, Flock has lots (though not nearly as many) extensions you can add to make the browser work better for you.

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Camino is the aforementioned Mozilla's Safari look-alike. Firefox can also run on Macs, but if the Safari interface is something that makes you drool (and not in that while-you-sleep-and-drool-on-your-pillow sort of way), we recommend Camino. Why? Because it's open source and not owned by a mammoth company. In essence, Mozilla is like the Green Bay Packers: it's not really owned by any one entity, and it's not driven by the bottom line; it's driven by the needs and desires of its users and the greater good.

Afterward:

If this isn't enough to convince you, consider this: Progressive Wednesday is optimized to work with Flock, Opera, Safari, Camino and, of course, Firefox. We're not suggesting that your experience with Firefox will be pain-free, but any problems will probably be more like a scratch as compared to IE's sucking flesh wound (our apologies for this second slight hyperbole).

Kiva.org – “ Small Actions Making Huge Differences

You may have looked over to the middle column on this page and noticed a little green ad called Kiva – “ Loans That Change Lives. You may have wondered, “What's that?– Well, we're glad you asked. Kiva is an organization that closely mirrors what we are doing here at Progressive Wednesday, making big differences with small actions. Through them anyone with $25 and a PayPal account can lend that money to an entrepreneur in a developing country to help start or revive a small business. In their own words:

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence.

From Ecuador to Kenya, farming to cosmetic sales, hundreds of poverty level entrepreneurs have been able to open and maintain a small business and enabled them to support themselves and their families. It's also proven to be a very safe investment for the lender. At the time of this post repayment of loans was at 100% (though that's not why you do it). So check'em out at Kiva.org and make a world of difference to someone a world away.

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Please say “hi” and “howdy” to our newest columnist… Alyson Greenfield

Alyson Greenfield is a songbird.  A writer. A lover. A real renaissance type. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and spent some time shacking up in Madison, Wisconsin (where she shook Gloria Steinem’s hand) and Chicago, Illinois (where she was in a music video with Billy Corgan). She studied English and Women’s Studies in Madison, developed a creative writing program at an elementary school in Chicago, and spent time on that city’s Education Fund Board for the National Organization for Women. Sitting on Fire, a movie which she co-wrote, won Special Prize for Best Short Film at the Philadelphia Documentary and Fiction Film Festival.

When she moved back to C-bus for a few years, she taught French and Dance at an arts high school and creative writing at the Thurber House. She recently finished filming and editing three music videos for her “other– career as a singer/songwriter. She has played in music venues all over the country, from New York, New York to Birmingham, Alabama, and her music can be heard on Rubyfruit Radio, The Female Front, and NTG Radio, and will soon appear on those things called “TVs.” These days she calls Tuscaloosa, Alabama home, where she grades oodles of student essays while earning her MFA.

She really likes it when people get along and are nice to each other, and she's excited that she's been showing up in people's dreams a lot lately. To find even more of the 411 about Alyson and boogie to her tunes, hop on over to her MySpace page or her website. For the full experience, you can lay down ten measly bucks over at CD Baby, and her first album, Six Songs, can be yours.